Iofur's Daemon
by jord57
Summary: What would happen if Iofur had won the fight and Lyra had to be Iofur's Daemon? Here is the chance to find out!
1. The Last Straw

As Lyra Belacque ran round the corner at Jordan College she heard the footsteps of the servants a little bit behind her, she knew that something like this would happen.

But poor little Lyra couldn't understand why everyone was so mad about it. How was she supposed to know that the window that she broke cost £500, but now she was in a lot of trouble, which she had to think of a way to get out of. Eventually she ran into a room, but couldn't see anywhere to hide or to get out. As the servants finally caught up with her she let out a sigh and said

"Oh Pan, i wish i didn't break that window now! The master won't be happy at all!" But there was nothing that she could do. It was too late, she was already caught, she was surrounded by 5 Servants and their dog dæmons. Lyra didn't struggle or resist when the servants took her by the arms, nor when they took her out of the room, though she did when they took her to the master of Jordan College.

"Now Lyra i am very upset about this." He said pointing to a broken window lying on the floor. "I hope you can explain or else i shall have to punish you.", at this point Lyra was speechless she was just stood there looking like a fool letting out an odd "I..I..." or a "But..." in a low mumble. Eventually the Master spoke again

"Well Lyra I'm sorry but this was the last straw! I'm afraid that the only option left is to send you to an all girls boarding school. Maybe you will make some friends as well, then you won't need to play with those street urchins anymore either." Of course Lyra has something to say to this!

"What?! No, you can't make me! I won't go!" and so on, but it was no use because the master was adamant that this was what was going to happen.

The next day before Lyra was taken to the boarding school, she was talking to Pan. She was whining about being sent there and at one point said

"..I know! I'll run away! Come on Pan just you and me, right now, before we get sent there!" her dæmon Pantalaimon was mumbling and eventually said

"Well..Ok i guess it's better than an all GIRLS boarding school!" and with that they started packing their bags.

When they finished packing, they casually walked to the front door, and acted as if they were waiting to go to the boarding school, but when they got there they just walked straight out of the door and ran away out of the gate. Then they were in the rich area of Oxford. After about 1 hour of wandering they found an abandoned shack, and they laid out some blankets that they had packed, and they slept there for the night.

Back at Oxford it was total Chaos. When the college master was informed he went mad. he was ranting and raving, and when he calmed down he ordered all his servants to go find Lyra. Then he bought some professional trackers to help find her, and he ordered two of his servants to go put up posters telling people to call him if they found her.

The next morning he was getting worried and sent more people to go look for Lyra, when he couldn't stand it anymore he went to go find her himself. But of course it was too hard, nobody could possibly find her, she was always good at hiding, but he didn't think that she would be this good. there were at least 50 people looking for her, and 500 posters up all over Oxford, and a £1000 reward if somebody found her. He couldn't stand it, all of this just because she broke a window.

Three days later Lyra was wandering around the slums and the lakes when she found a group of Gyptian children talking about all the things that were happening over her. When she went over to them they just gave her an odd look and one said, "Is that her? is that Lyra Belacque?" and a few of the other kids mumbled and when one of their parents came over to them to see what all the hubbub was about she just stopped in her tracks, looked around and shouted over the leader of the Gyptians, John Faa.

When John Faa came over he exclaimed "Holy Lord!" and then swore very loudly. After that a big crowd gathered around Lyra and there were lots of murmurs and eventually somebody said "That's her! That's the one they're after, if we hand her in then they'll stop raiding our fleets!" but John Faa knew something about Lyra, and he wasn't going to give her in to Jordan College that easy. He ordered his men to take her into his Living quarters before anyone they didn't want to see her saw her. After a while she grew hungry, and asked these people she hadn't met before if they had any food, and almost instantly they brought her a mini feast, there was chicken, pork, vegetables (which she didn't eat), and there was of course a knife and fork. The tray that is was brought on was beautiful, it was made of silver, and had markings in it.

After Lyra had eaten, and the leftovers were taken away John Faa came in, and said to her

"Lyra, we need to talk, about what is going to be done about this.But first, what are you doing all the way over here?"

"The master tried to make me go to an all girls school! no way me and pan are going there!" Lyra replied.

"Lyra, you have to understand, its not as simple as that, you can't just run away and think its that simple! There are people looking for you, and they suspect us!"

"Well what can i do! I'm not going back just so that he can send me to the all girls boarding school!"

"Oh Lyra..you are very difficult to convince! Oh well ill sort that out later, but for now, you should sleep. I will have my men bring in some clean clothes."

After that John Faa left, and clothes were brought in for her, and so she slept, but with great nightmares of her nights on the streets and of what would happen to her. but still she slept.


	2. A Long Trip

The next day when Lyra woke up she felt queasy, and felt as if she were being rocked left and right. When she had had a shower and got dressed she went to go look for the Gyptian leader, but bumped into some of his guards just outside her room, and when she asked them if she could go find him they said

"I'm sorry ma but he's busy steering the ship. I'm sure he shall be more than happy to talk later." said one of the guards in a deep voice.

"What do you meen by steering the ship? Where are you taking me?!" Lyra said rather angry that she wasn't informed.

"Well i think you know the answer to your first question, and as for your second question we're going north, the gobblers kidnapped all of the children last night while we were sleeping, we need to get them back and John Faa reckons you would be a great help."

"How would i be able to help? I wouldn't be able to help against those evil gobblers!"

"I'm sorry Lyra but its not my decision."

After the guard and her had argued some more she finally went back into her room and slammed the door behind her. She didn't know what to do, so she just sat with pantalaimon, now an ermine, on her bad and talked.

Up on deck John Faa was busy steering the ship, they where about 3 and a half days away from the north, where all the Gyptian children had been taken. Eventually after a lot of sleeping and eating and talking Lyra got to talk to John Faa who said

"Lyra you have to understand you are special, you need to help us get our children back! Withought our children back who will carry on our family names? We have no choice."

"You could have asked me if i would help, instead of kidnapping me! Anyway I'm not special! how will i be able to help you get those kids back!" Lyra replied

"Lyra you ARE special, you just don't know it yet! And we really need help getting our children back, please Lyra I'm asking you know, no I'm BEGGING you, please, please help us get our kids back!"

"What will i get out of it! It better be good, or else I'm not going to help you get your kids back!"

"What will you get out of it? Oh well.. You would find out what your gift is! I'm sure that you want that, don't you?"

"Well, it would be interesting to know what my gift it...Ok ill do it, ill help you!"

"Thank you Lyra, you won't regret it!"

From then on Lyra just wandered around the ship talking to random people, eventually she got bored and one of the gyptian men showed her how to play poker and then she started playing poker with some of the gyptians. Lyra was tired of not having any children to play with, so after a while she decided that she would just sleep for the long journey ahead, coming out of her room only occasionally to do things like shower or use the toilet. After 3 days of constant sailing John Faa came in to talk to her, and when Lyra had asked him if they where nearly there he said that they would be there within the hour, and he then told her not to go up on the deck withought putting on her winter clothes as it was getting very cold.

When they finally reached the north Lyra put on her winter clothes as fast as she possibly could and then ran outside, not caring what anybody thought, she was just happy to feel the solid ground underneath her feet, and the people of the village coming to see who the new arrivals were. When all the gyptian people were off of the ship John Faa walked up to the small crowd that had gathered and said

"Hello, we are here to rescue our children, they were taken by the gobblers, do you know where the gobblers would have taken them?"

The crowd all looked at each other and then one told them that they would have to talk to the mayor for that information, and then the crowd broke up, not wanting to be mixing with the people that had anything to do with the magesterium or the 'gobblers' as the strange man had called them. After resting the day in one of the local hotels they went to see the mayor. they had a long conversation and when they were finally told they got some tips too.

"Hello there Mayor, I'm John Faa. Some of the townspeople told me that you are the person to come to if we need to find out some information about the magesterium as you people call them." John Faa had said.

"Well, Mr. Faa, those townspeople were right. What do you need to know?" the mayor had replied.

"We need to know where the magesterium are stationed."

"I'm sorry if i sound rude Mr. Faa but you keep saying "we" but there is only one of you here, could you please explain to me?"

"Me and my men. We came to get our kids back from the gobblers. Now, back to my question please sir."

"Ah..Yes, well that is a simple question. The magesterium, or 'gobblers' as you call them are located just a little north of here. But i suggest you get the help of a panserbjørne, or in simpler terms, an armored bear. I believe that you could get the help of one from the inn just down the road."

"Well ma' lord thank you for all the help you've been. And ill be checking out that panserbjørne. I shall be seeing you around!" And with that he walked out.


End file.
